


The I Do Ado

by Anonymous



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Found Family, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding Fluff, Wedding Planning, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 15:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30040761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Suvi and Ryder are getting married. Tann offered to pay for everything if he could make it a big political event. Their simple wedding turns into a big affair, and Ryder has some jitters. The most important things, though? Those are all present.Unrepentant tooth-rotting fluff.
Relationships: Suvi Anwar/Female Ryder | Sara
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1
Collections: Spectre Requisitions 2021





	The I Do Ado

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cakeisatruth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cakeisatruth/gifts).



Ryder’s eyes widened at the display in front of her. She scanned the table and the different plates, covered with tiny pieces of spongy cake in a dizzying rainbow of colors.

Suvi squeezed Ryder’s hand. “You’re the pathfinder, so I’m going to make it your job to pick first.”

“This might be the hardest choice since I thawed out.”

“It’s just cake.”

“It’s wedding cake, Suvi. Our wedding cake.” Ryder shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and then felt another reassuring squeeze on her hand.

“If you really want me to pick first, I’m going right for that strawberry-looking one.” Suvi pointed at a plate right in the middle, with two garish magenta-pink, slightly gelatinous-looking sponges on it.

“Okay, you know what? I don’t know why I’m so stressed about this. Let’s do it.”

Ryder walked over, picked up the plate, and carried it back.

Suvi giggled. “You forgot the forks, my sweet.”

Ryder sighed. She held out the plate to Suvi, who took it, and made a grand show of trudging back to the table for the forks.

“Feeling some extra gravity there, eh?” Suvi asked playfully.

“Getting ready for the extra pounds I’m going to be carrying around after this tasting,” she said with a sarcastic groan.

“Oh, hush. With your biotic metabolism, this is nothing. And I, for one, don’t mind a little extra cushion.” Suvi took one of the forks, deftly sliced one of the cubes in two, and held it up close to her mouth. “Do you want to do this at the same time?”

“Challenge accepted.” Ryder readied her own piece. “Three, two, one- cake.”

They each ate their piece of cake. Ryder frowned and, around the mouthful, mumbled that it was decidedly “not strawberry.” They had been warned by the baker that some of the colors would be different due to the use of different ingredients native to Andromeda, but something about the bright pink certainly didn’t go with what she was tasting.

Suvi chewed and swallowed her piece. “It’s almost like pistachio, I think. Maybe try closing our eyes when we take the next bite?”

Ryder nodded. “Okay.” They each readied their forks and closed their eyes. “Three, two, one- cake.”

She tasted it more clearly this time, knowing a bit more about what to expect. The cake itself was denser than it looked, with a nutty flavor, and something ever-so-slightly bitter but not unpleasantly so.

“This goes in the maybe pile, for me,” Suvi announced. “What about you?”

Ryder squinted and shrugged. “I guess? I mean. There are about a dozen other ones to try, so putting this one in maybe is a good start.”

Suvi set the plate in the middle of a long table. The last few little bites wobbled as the plate made contact.

Suvi moved towards the remaining cakes and announced, “I think I’m going to close my eyes when I try the next one. Should help with that color factor. Let’s see. How about this lovely vermillion?”

With Suvi’s scientific, logical approach to the study of the cake choices, they soon had it narrowed down to two. A dark purply-brown fudge-textured option that tasted like creamsicle, and a beige, airy hazelnut-flavored variety.

Ryder had a streak on each cheek, hazelnut on her left and creamsicle on her right, and Suvi sported a dot of the hazelnut on her nose.

Ryder grimaced. “Now, the question is how to narrow it down from here.”

Suvi smiled. “I think they’ll taste good together. Just stack one on top of the other.”

Ryder took a deep breath. “Phew! For a minute there, I thought we were going to start having to do math. Charts, graphs….”

“No math,” Suvi said. “Promise. Hey, we don’t even have to do a budget!”

“Oh, don’t remind me.” 

Ryder had initially jumped at the opportunity when Tann offered to throw a lavish wedding as long as he could invite as many dignitaries as he wanted. Ryder didn’t realize that so many people counted as dignitaries in Tann’s mind, and every mid-level bureaucrat and higher would be in attendance, either in person or by video. Soon enough, Addison had gotten involved as a way to build morale among the colonists by having a large celebration, and even though Kesh was responding sarcastically to all of their antics, she had set a crew to establishing an event space worthy of the endeavor.

“Sometimes I wish we were just eloping,” Ryder said, almost at a whisper. “It would be so much simpler.”

“Hey. Ryder. We’ll have me and you, and our crew, and cake. Everything else is just… well, it’s just the extra.”

Suvi squeezed Ryder’s hand. “At the end of the day, it’s you and me. All the pomp in the galaxy isn’t going to change that.”

Ryder smiled. “You’re right.” She leaned in and rested her head on Suvi’s shoulder. “And so sensible.” She squeezed Suvi’s hand back. “And I can’t take it, so I’m gonna smear some more of this cake on you now.”

**

As the next few weeks of planning passed, Ryder grew ever more infuriated with Tann and Addison’s e-mails. Every time she came back from any sort of mission, there was something new that she had been copied on. Some Salarian groups were throwing a stink about being seated too close to the Krogans coming in from Elaaden. Kesh didn’t have enough dark blue linens, and did Ryder want a different color entirely or would it be okay if some of the blue was lighter? Was the shade of blue any religious significance? She came to dread checking the messages.

All of the good news came directly. Vetra had diligently searched for some specific items of clothing, and managed to find exactly what Ryder was looking for. This, Ryder found out when Vetra found her on the bridge to announce it.

“Nuh-uh”! Suvi interrupted. “No spoilers! Take it somewhere else!”

“Human tradition,” Kallo explained. “Suvi’s been explaining it to me. In some human cultures, the groom doesn’t get to know what the bride is wearing or see her before the wedding.”

“Neither of you is a groom,” Vetra stammered.

“Doesn’t matter,” Suvi said, scoldingly. “Ryder doesn’t get to know what I’m wearing, and I don’t get to know what she’s wearing. And we have separate accommodations for the night before the ceremony.”

“C’mon, Vetra,” Ryder said with a smile. “Let’s go somewhere more appropriate. The hangar bay?”

Vetra nodded. “Okay. I get it. I mean, I don’t. At least we don’t have to do a formal Turian wedding. The ritual combat is pretty fun, though all the blood is a mess to clean up.”

As Ryder and Vetra headed out of the cockpit, they heard Suvi whispering to Kallo. “She’s joking, right?”

“I have no idea,” Kallo whispered back.

Vetra held it together until the door was closed, and only then did she burst out in laughter.

**

The day came. Suvi took Jaal and Kallo with her as her bridal party to a suite reserved for the purpose on the Nexus.

Ryder stayed on the Tempest, and the next morning, Vetra and Liam helped her into the suit.

She looked in the mirror. The black jacket was a little big, but fortunately the kilt was fairly adjustable and had simply required some additional folding.

“So this is your something borrowed,” Liam said. “What about old, new, and blue?”

Ryder sighed. “I’ve been so busy with everything going on I completely forgot.”

Liam frowned dramatically and scratched his chin.

“I don’t see the issue,” Vetra said. “We spent enough time in cryo that we’re all old at this point.”

Liam waved her off. “It’s okay, I was prepared.” She opened the door to Ryder’s room and hollered out, “Drack, Peebee? I need your old and new!” He turned back to Ryder and Vetra. “I’ll be back with the blue.”

Drack shuffled in. “You look great, kid. Here.” She held out her hands and he passed over what looked like a jagged, yellow rock. “Took this tooth after a clan battle a few hundred years before you were born. It’s yours now. Liam said you should put it in your pocket.”

She slipped it into the pocket of her coat and gave Drack a big hug. “Thanks.”

Then Peebee arrived. “I tried to tell Liam that SAM counted as something new, but he insisted it had to be something tangible. Jaal and I put this together. He’d be here, but, y’know, Suvi called dibs for her wedding party. Which is really confusing, honestly, because isn’t the whole thing a party? Anyway.” She held out her hand and opened it to reveal a tiny, jewel-hued drone. “It’ll cling wherever you put it, and it’s already set up to record the ceremony and are you crying why is she crying?”

Ryder sniffled. “I’m not. This is just really nice, you guys. I never thought I’d be so emotional about this.”

Peebee continued. “Tch. We could just not tell Liam that he won the bet, you know.”

“Nope!” came his voice from down the hallway. “I heard that!”

Liam re-entered, carrying a blue flower. “There,” she said, pinning it on as a bouttoniere. “Perfect.”

**

Ryder shifted her weight nervously from one foot to the other. Then she realized what she was doing and stopped.

“Unlock your knees,” SAM reminded her.

Ryder squeezed her eyes shut and forced her knees to relax. “Thanks,” she whispered back.

“Ready?” Scott whispered.

“No,” Ryder replied.

“Too bad. The music’s starting any moment. Besides. You look smashing, you’re marrying the woman you love, what could go wrong?”

She resisted the urge to smack the back of his head, mostly so she wouldn’t dislodge his yarmulke. “I could lock my knees up there and pass out in front of the whole freaking galaxy.” Not only was the in-person crowd immense, but the whole affair was, of course, being recorded for those who could not be physically present. “I could trip and fall face-first into the cake.”

“It’ll be something to remember, then,” he said with a smile. The first notes of the procession music started. “Time to go!”

He linked elbows with her and they walked down the aisle together.

Ryder felt the adrenaline rush through her body, but Scott held her firm as they walked down the aisle. She was grateful to be able to lean on him a little.

The crowd was a blur. The music seemed like it was drifting in and out, drowned out by the sound of her own heartbeat.

Still, she somehow made it to the altar. Scott gave her arm a squeeze, and then stepped back and took his seat in the front row.

Cora came next, escorted by Kallo. Cora wore a robins-egg-blue dress that she had, for reasons unknown, brought from the Milky Way. No-one had been able to get her to comment on its origins. Kallo had a light pink, knee-length robe with gold buttons down the front, and a matching pink and orange-embroidered sash over his right shoulder. Cora took her spot next to Ryder as maiden-of-honor, and Kallo stood across to wait for Suvi’s entrance.

Then Vetra and Jaal, each in their own respective formalwear. Jaal had added a long scarf, in a pink-and-orange similar to Kallo’s, draped over his rofjin.

Then the door opened one last time. At first, all she could see was Drack. Krogan didn’t generally go for formalwear, and he had feigned reluctance when he was asked to walk Suvi down the aisle, but there he was. His usual armor had several pink and orange flowers tucked in around his neck.

He held out his hand, and Suvi stepped into the light and glittered.

Ryder gasped. She felt SAM unlock her knees for her.

Suvi took delicate steps down the aisle, red-slippered and henna’d feet peeking out from a bright red-and-gold sari skirt. As she got closer, Ryder noticed the gold embroidery on the sari made a floral pattern, and had small red jewels which caught the light. She had a matching red veil over her hair, trimmed in gold embroidery, trailing as a train behind her.

Nothing of the dress or veil compared to Suvi’s expression, with a wide grin and a gleam in her eyes.

An eternal instant later, there she was. Drack placed Suvi’s hand in Ryder’s, leaned in, and whispered. “Pretty sure I’m her adopted dad now. I think this is the point where I threaten that if you do anything that hurts her feelings, I get to smash you to bits.” Ryder stood stunned. Suvi put her henna’d hand up to her mouth to stifle a giggle. Drack grinned.

The lead officiant gave him a quick glare. Drack shrugged and sat down in the first row next to Kesh.

The ceremony itself was mercilessly uneventful. One officiant read through the religious portions that Suvi had selected, and another through the parts that would have been important to Ellen and Scott had encouraged them to keep in her memory. Ryder didn’t even hear; she spent the entirety of the ceremony becoming slowly aware that her cheeks were starting to ache. Every time she tried to relax them, though, another glance at Suvi brought the grin right back.

Ryder’s hands trembled as she reached into the pocket of her jacket to take out the small box with the rings, after prompting from the officiant. She had gone over the order of things, but it still took a moment for her to process when he said “And now, the rings.”

She opened the box and took out the first ring, a simple loop that she slid onto Suvi’s finger. Their rings matched the pendants, exchanged earlier in a gathering of the crew plus Scott. At this point, they counted as immediate family.

Suvi took the box from Ryder’s hands, extracted the other ring, and slid it onto Ryder’s finger.

“I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may kiss.”

Suvi leaned in. Ryder smiled. If they were going to have a big, dramatic wedding, she may as well make it dramatic. She wrapped one arm around Suvi’s shoulders, the other around her waist, and as they kissed, Ryder leaned her bride back into a dip. She was vaguely aware of a cacophony of noise in response, as the non-humans in the crowd quickly followed the humans’ cue to cheer.

**

Later, after the photos, shaking hands with every dignitary in the galaxy, the dances, assurances from Suvi that it was ok to just bounce along with the upbeat bhangra music, several Krogan enthusiastically passing them around during the Hora, Liam whispering in Drack’s ear that it was traditional for the bride to dance with her father and Drack taking the opportunity to commandeer Suvi for a dance, Lexi and Harry being found in a corner with far too much champagne, and a massive cake taller than either of them… Ryder carried Suvi into the fanciest suite of the Nexus’s only hotel.

She set Suvi down gently on the edge of the bed, and then flopped, face-first, down next to her.

“My face hurts,” she said, voice muffled by the thick comforter.

Suvi reached over and rubbed her back. “You survived your toughest mission. Have a fancy, over-the-top political wedding. And, for what it’s worth, I like your face.”

That brought another smile. Ow.

Ryder scooted until she was sitting next to Suvi. Her bride.

“So. Wife.”

“Wife,” Suvi responded. “I like it.” Suvi leaned into Ryder, resting her head against Ryder’s shoulder.

Suvi giggled. “I wasn’t expecting the kilt. It was a nice touch.”

Ryder couldn’t help but grin as she reached her arm around Suvi’s waist to pull her close. “I thought you might like it. I wasn’t expecting… this.” She used her free arm to gesture from Suvi’s head to her toes. The veil had been removed at some point along the way.

“My parents insisted I pack something appropriate for a wedding. They knew they wouldn’t be around for it, so my dad had it made back home.” Ryder noticed Suvi’s eyes shining with small tears. “My parents and siblings each added a little embroidery so they could be with me if I ever had a chance to wear it.” Suvi reached up a henna’d hand and wiped her eyes. Ryder drew her closer. Suvi sighed. “Phew. I held it all together pretty well until now, I think.”

Ryder moved her hand up from Suvi’s waist and began to trace slow circles on her back. Her wife’s back.

“I know you miss them,” Ryder said.

“It’s not that, really. I mean. I do miss them. But these are happy tears. They’re with me, y’know?”

Ryder nodded. “I know.”

“It’s a legacy. And now you’re with me. We’re family.” Suvi leaned away slightly to make space to clasp Ryder’s hand. “You’re my wife.” She took a deep breath. “You’re my wife! It’s so weird to say. I like it.”

Ryder nodded and gave Suvi’s hands a squeeze. “I like it, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> When I saw that cakeisatruth requested some domestic fluff, my brain immediately went to wedding cake. Because cake.
> 
> Thanks to my classmate Bev who, completely unfamiliar with Mass Effect, talked me through the essential elements that I should include in a multicultural-including-Desi wedding (and the suggestion of putting Kallo in a sherwani).
> 
> Also thanks to my beta-readers, [Dr. Ladybird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/drladybird/pseuds/drladybird) and [gaywhale](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaywhale/pseuds/gaywhale)


End file.
